Jared chuckled quietly as his hands went to his belt and he pulled it out of the loop. Next he eased down his zipper. Dana watched as he removed his jeans, then the pair of black briefs he was wearing. She inhaled deeply when he stood before her naked from the waist down. Completely naked and totally aroused.
He held her gaze. “Truth or Dare.”
She gave him an intimate smile. “Dare.”
“I dare you to take off the rest of your clothes.”
Dana’s heart began beating faster as she began unbuttoning her blouse to take if off. She then removed her bra that was half off anyway. Next was the skirt that she eased down her legs along with her half slip. Her body shivered at the intense desire she saw in Jared’s gaze as he looked at her. His eyes seemed fixated with the area below her navel.
“Truth or Dare?” she asked softly, feeling totally exposed, yet at the same time, utterly sexy while standing nude before him.
“Dare,” he said throatily, as if that one word had been torn from deep inside his throat.
She nodded, wondering if they would ever get back to truths when it was much more fun being daring. Just looking at him standing in her living room more naked than dressed, made her feel warm, wet and wanton. “Take off the rest of yours, as well.”
All he had to do was pull his shirt over his head and he was done. “Truth or Dare?” he challenged in a husky voice as his gaze moved down the length of her. She felt her body burn everywhere his eyes touched. She also felt her blood simmer slowly through each of her veins.
“Truth,” she responded, letting out a slow breath.
“Now that we’re naked, what do you want us to do?” he asked. The magnitude of desire in his eyes had her body burning.
She held his gaze. They were back to the truth again. Everything feminine within her yearned for him, actually ached. The area between her legs was throbbing unmercifully. And she could think of only one way to end the torment. “I want you to make love to me. Here. Now. And don’t hold back on anything.”
Her words were both a truth and a dare, Jared thought, as he filled with need and desire, and an overpowering love slammed into him. Something within him snapped and he wanted to give her exactly what she’d asked for.
He reached out, pulled her to him and kissed her, drowning in the sweet moistness of her mouth. He wanted to touch her, taste her, mark her as his. And although he knew such a thing wasn’t possible, he wanted to seduce her into loving him as much as he loved her.
He tugged her down on the carpeted floor and let out a low growl of need when he left her mouth to devour the rest of her. His tongue was hot and the skin it tasted increased the fever and the hunger inside him. And Dana wasn’t helping matters. Her hands were touching him everywhere, letting him know that she was driven by the same fierce urgency. When she took him into her hand, running her fingers down his hot, slick shaft, he sucked in his breath. She was burning for him the same way he was on fire for her and he knew of only one way to put out the flames.
“No more,” he said, pushing aside her hands, his arousal beyond the point of control. He quickly covered her body and entered her, sheathing himself deep. Breathing raggedly, he began thrusting inside of her, holding her gaze as he moved in and out, mating with her like a man who was about to take his last breath and this was the only thing that could sustain him.
Dana followed Jared’s frantic rhythm, kept up with his nonstop pace and sucked in a breath at the impact of each and every thrust. Pleasure tore through her relentlessly, urged her to wrap her legs around his hips and pull him deeper inside of her. She wanted this, had asked for it. And he was giving it to her.
“Jared!”
She gave herself to him in torrid abandonment. Shudders, unyielding and unrelenting, rammed through every part of her body, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. A mass of sensations bombarded the area between her legs where their bodies were joined. And when he picked up the pace, increased the already frantic rhythm, and deepened his steady thrusts, she lifted her body off the floor, needing and wanting everything he had to give.
“Dana!”
Jared’s body shook with the force of an orgasm that shot him into ecstasy, filled him with wondrous sensations. A deep guttural growl of satisfaction ripped from deep within his throat and he felt his body explode inside of her. He never knew, never even thought that making love to a woman could be so climactic and earth-shattering, until he’d made love with her. He had never before mated this wildly with a woman, never before wished the rapture would never end.
A short while later, he collapsed on the floor beside her and pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her as she lay sprawled lifelessly across his chest, the hunger they had for each other satisfied.
“Truth or dare?” she whispered, pressing her lips against the hollow of his throat and gently sucking there.
His breath caught and he felt himself getting hard all over again. “Truth,” he said when he was able to breathe normally again.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, somehow finding strength to lean up and stare down at him.
His heart reacted immediately to her question. “I’m thinking that what we just shared is amazing, and that every time we’ve made love was incredible. I also think that you’re beautiful, sexy and a woman any man would want to claim as his. And that I want you in all the ways a man could possibly want a woman. In bed and out of bed. I’m also thinking about the fact that we didn’t use protection, but I’m not bothered by it because I don’t want things to end between us tonight.”
Dana lightly traced her fingers through the hair on his chest. Was he trying to say he wanted her as a lover? That things didn’t have to be over after tonight? But how would he explain to his family as to why she had gone from being his fiancée to nothing more than his lover. But then another part of her knew she wanted more from Jared, a lot more than he was willing to give. She refused to sell herself short and it was best to walk away now to save herself heartbreak later.
“Truth or dare, Dana?”
His challenge interrupted her thoughts. She looked at him. “Truth.”
He reached out and captured her hand. “What are you thinking?”
She inhaled deeply, then released a slow, shaky breath. “I’m thinking that I can’t settle for an affair with you, Jared.”
“That’s good because I don’t want an affair.”
At the confused look that appeared on her face, he sat up and pulled her to him and placed a slow, lingering kiss on her lips. When he released her he said, “I want something more than an affair, Dana. I want you to be the woman I come home to every night.”
She frowned, not sure she understood what he was saying. “I don’t understand.”
With a shuddering sigh he said, “Then maybe it’s time to put all game playing aside and speak only the truth.”
He couldn’t help but think about how much he loved her and needed her in his life. “These past six weeks, pretending to be your fiancé, the man you are going to marry, have been the best weeks of my life. And tonight when I realized it was about to end, I had to face a number of truths. One of which was the fact that I have fallen in love with you.”
Dana blinked, seeming thunderstruck. “You have?”
His smile showed a perfect set of white teeth. “Yes, and more than anything I want to make our engagement real.” He lifted his hand to her face to caress her cheek. “But getting what I want really depends on how you feel about me, Dana.”
He saw the moment tears began forming in her eyes. “Oh, Jared, I love you, too, and more than anything I want our engagement to be real.”
He chuckled with both joy and relief and pulled her into his lap. “I’m damn glad to hear that. So, Dana Rollins will you marry me? Be my wife, the mother of my children and the love of my life for always?”
He framed her face in his hands and continued. “Will you let that ring you’re already wearing be a symbol of my love and promise? And will you believe that I will honor you, protect you and make you happy?”
He watched as more tears came into her eyes at the same time a soft chuckle escaped from her throat. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Jared, and be all of those things.”
An overpowering gush of happiness erupted from Jared’s throat. “You do know this means you’ll have all the Westmorelands as family?”
Tears made her choke back her laughter. “Thank God. I’d become attached to them and didn’t want to give them up even though I thought this would be our last night together.”
When his arms tightened around her she leaned down and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “You’re a pro at making seductive proposals, Jared Westmoreland.”
He grinned as his heart raced with unmeasured joy. “Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Umm,” he said as heat began stroking his body all over again. “I’m also pretty good at other things.”
She met his dark penetrating gaze as she stared at him. “Are you?”
“Yes.”
She leaned down, her lips mere inches from his. “Show me these other things. I dare you.”
In one smooth move he quickly had her on her back. Their gazes locked and he knew he would love her for the rest of his life.